Another camping trip with bikes

Sep 12, 2026

We drove down to Buckland, MA on Saturday and boondocked at Ann's friend's house. We were in the heart of D2R2 land but we were there to help her friend celebrate her engagement and couldn't ride Saturday. In fact, we didn't ride at all due to the weather and our time table.

Sunday morning was pouring rain so we drove down to Greenfield to gas up the truck and get coffee. I tried to make coffee with the single cup Keurig coffee maker but the Jumper Box didn't have enough watts and we had a bit of a water issue - when I was filling the tank yesterday I misread the water meter and thought that I put in 37 gallons of water when it was actually, 3.7 gallons.  I didn't see the decimal on the meter.

On the way back we drove up to Apex Orchards and bought some fruit and strawberry preserves.

Then we stopped at the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum.

There were kinds of cool things to see in the Museum including a few train layouts.

We took a ride on a restored trolley that was originally ran on these tracks.

We were able to walk around in an old caboose, too.

Then we headed back to Shelburne Falls

and from the Buckland side walked the Bridge of Flowers.

The bridge is actually an old Trolley Bridge

over the Deer Field River.

On the Shelburne Falls side we visited the Glacial Potholes.

The Glacial Potholes in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, were formed over 14,000 years by rushing glacial meltwater and swirling sediment that acted as natural drills to carve deep cavities into the Deerfield River bedrock

We walked through Shelburne Falls

and back over the Steel Bridge to look at the Bridge of Flowers.

Back at the camper I got the generator going so we could use the microwave to heat up Sausage and Pepper sandwiches that I got at take-a-ways from the party last night. The generator will be a big plus to our future camping adventures, especially when we camp without any hook ups.

I did book us for a night in Charlemont, MA at Country Aire Campground, with full hook ups so that we could use the sewer the following day instead of trying to find a dump station when we head back to Connecticut.  

There are dump stations in and about Massachusetts and Connecticut but nothing really convenient for the direction we were heading. While Ann hooks up the sewer, I do the electrical and water.

I put quick disconnects on our hoses to make things easier.

One thing I have to remember when disconnecting the water line is to release the pressure on the system before disconnecting. I found out the hard way what happens when you don't do that.

I am getting better with leveling.

We made cheddar brats for dinner on the gas fire pit.

There was a tear drop camping club here this weekend.

It was a shame that we couldn't ride our bikes this trip, especially since we were in the D2R2 Land. Oh well, if we get invited to the wedding we will probably boondock the whole weekend and I am sure we'll be able to ride then.

Leaving Country Aire on Monday we drove down to Connecticut and emptied out the camper at Ann's place in Sandy Hook and then dropped off the camper at the dealer where Ann bought it for winterizing.